Black point and white point are not photoshop terms. The black point is also called the shadow: its the darkest neutral part of the picture which should still hold some detail. The white point is sometimes called the highlight: it is the lightest neutral point in the picture that should hold some detail. This is true whether you are doing B&W darkroom development, or whether you are making adjustments in photoshop.
When you slide the left hand slider in levels to the right, you are moving the black point to a higher level. This will have the effect of plugging the shadows -- making more of the picture black. Conversely, when you move the right hand slider to the left, you are moving the white point to a lower level. And this has the effect of blowing the highlights.
Lets say you have a picture where the darkest point you want to see has a tonal level of 35 and the lightest point has a tonal level of 230 (out of 256). If you move the black point to 35 and the white point to 230, you have now set 35 = 0 and 230 = 255. This stretches out the tonal range accross the entire picture which increases the contrast.
There are other ways to set the black and white points (most commonly with curves), but you were already doing it when you played with levels.
LAB is a color space. There are typically three kinds of color spaces that people use: RGB (red green blue, which comes in different flavors depending on the gamut that is being represented), CMYK (which is even more complicated and is commonly used for printing presses), and LAB. LAB is different than the others because it keeps all the contrast information in the one channel (the L channel), and then distributes all the color information into the A (red/green) and B (yellow/blue) channels.
By converting a picture to the LAB color space, you can quickly make adjustments to the contrast and the color of the picture, and you can do this by making very simple moves that a trained monkey could do. This approach is what you would learn from the first 5 chapters of the Margulis Canyon Conundrum book. It would allow you to do good fixes to most pictures in about 1-2 minutes.
If you then turned those steps into an action (which is Photoshopese for a macro), you could reduce the time to half a minute or less. Then, if you learned how to do batch processing, you could probably do a dry run of all your pictures without having to watch anything, You could then go in and spend a bit more time on the ones you thought needed/deserved a different treatment.
Well let's start with setting the black point. This is a trick that I learned at the bryce/zion photo shootout.
1) Open the image.
2) Make sure the layers tab is visible. It is in the bottom right by default but it may be hidden behind the channels or paths tab.
3) At the bottom right of the layers tab you'll see an icon that looks like a circle that is half black and half white. Hover over it and it will say "add a new fill or adjustment layer." Click on it and a menu will pop up; in that menu click on "Curves..."
4) You will now see a new layer was added and a Curves dialog box popped up. First things first, click on the icon at the bottom right of the curves dialog box to make it bigger and then option/alt click somewhere on the dotted grid to make it have smaller divisions. Now double click on the black eyedropper and a color picker dialog will pop up. Input 10, 10, 10 in the R, G, and B boxes and click OK. Double click the white eyedropper (the far right one in the curves dialog box) and in the color picker box put in 240, 240, 240 for the R, G, and B input boxes and then click okay.
5) Now in the curves dialog box you've got a line with 2 end points. Take the top right endpoint and drag it along the top edge all the way over to the left until you only have a few pixels left in your image. Those will be the darkest pixels. Click on the black eyedropper and then click on one of the pixels that should be failrly uniformly black (I found one in his belt). That will make the curve go back to normal and will set the black point.
6) Now do the same for the white point. Drag the bottom left endpoint of the RGB curve to the right until there are only a few pixels left on the screen and then click on the white eyedropper and then click on one of the pixels to set the white point (don't choose a specular highlight if the image has one). In this image I chose the bottom of the guy's left sleeve.
7) Click okay in the curves dialog box and the 1st time you do you'll get a message asking if you'd like to set the colors you defined in step 4 as the default. Just click yes.
8) You can see what setting the white point did by clicking on the eyeball icon to the left of the Curves 1 Layer and then clicking it back on. It may be a subtle adjustment, but it's a good adjustment to have done to your images.
Once you've digested this, I'll show you how you can always find the exact middle gray point.
Y'all don't want to hear me, you just want to dance.
There are just too many ways to skin this cat, and I know you're getting overloaded with them, but I am going to show you the easiest. It won't be the best, mebbe, but it'll get you through those hundreds of photos quickly. It's all based on the pop tutorial that Andy linked in your other thread, it's also in my signature. Make sure you look at both pop tutorials.
So, on your first shot here, I set a black point on his belt(see the tute), and then applied these curves to RGB. I basically moved the white point up (my curves is reversed from many, so pay attention to the fact that I've got shadows on the right--if you don't, you'll need to do the mirror image of it.) After moving the white point up, I control-clicked on skin to set a point in the curve, then dragged that point up to make it lighter. Very quick and easy. Here's the curves:
and here's the result:
Yes, you could spend more time on it and get better results, but from what I've read about what you want to get done, this is the way to go.
Here's the other shot.
Here I set the black point in the shadows of the girl's hair, and then applied these curves. Nothing more, nothing less.
I hope this helps. It really is the fastest way to get you going through all those images. It should help at least 95% of them. For the other 5%, you can ask for more help.
Dave, I'm following the tutorial. When I click on 'layer' I get a new blank layer. I don't get what to do with this new blank layer? I click on curves, but it won't let me select it because the layer is blank. I can work with the background, but what's the point of a new blank layer. I'm missing something I think.
Dave, I'm following the tutorial. When I click on 'layer' I get a new blank layer. I don't get what to do with this new blank layer? I click on curves, but it won't let me select it because the layer is blank. I can work with the background, but what's the point of a new blank layer. I'm missing something I think.
You're not adding a layer, but an adjustment layer. It's a layer with nothing there but the adjustment that you're making. Make sure you're clicking in the right place and that you're getting that menu, and from that menu you're selecting "Curves".
You're not adding a layer, but an adjustment layer. It's a layer with nothing there but the adjustment that you're making. Make sure you're clicking in the right place and that you're getting that menu, and from that menu you're selecting "Curves".
I found it. It's up above, under Layer>new>adjustment layer, and the drop down menu gives me the curves option.
Thank you, Sid. Will check this out. I'm making some progress on the setting the black point, I'm very excited. One thing I can't figure out is how to get rid of the Sampler Marker. The tutorial says, 'alt-click' but it doesn't seem to be working.
Thanks for all the help, and especially your patience, everyone. I'll get this, I promise.
Thank you, Sid. Will check this out. I'm making some progress on the setting the black point, I'm very excited. One thing I can't figure out is how to get rid of the Sampler Marker. The tutorial says, 'alt-click' but it doesn't seem to be working.
Thanks for all the help, and especially your patience, everyone. I'll get this, I promise.
It depends on the eyedropper mode, try throwing a shift in there, as well. Truth be told, the marker doesn't really hurt anything, so it's not much to worry about.
It depends on the eyedropper mode, try throwing a shift in there, as well. Truth be told, the marker doesn't really hurt anything, so it's not much to worry about.
I did my back in, the last time I threw a Shift in there. Got slapped, too.
It depends on the eyedropper mode, try throwing a shift in there, as well. Truth be told, the marker doesn't really hurt anything, so it's not much to worry about.
yup, that worked. Okay, so I'm getting it. Here's my version. A layer for curves, to brighten, a second adjustment layer where I added a little saturation. Now I'll have to read up on what I just did. See, this is exactly what I need. Finding my way, one problem at a time.
One more question (for today): Should I be flattening the layers when I save each image, or should I leave the layers separate to enable my clients to make future adjustments if desired?
I'm not a professional, but if I were, I would not give a client any work in progress. For the most part, I would want to give them my final result, which means flattening the layers. And if a client did his own photoshop work, then I might be persuaded to let them have the original, unedited version of a picture. For the most part, I think giving them something in between is just asking for trouble.
I'm not a professional, but if I were, I would not give a client any work in progress. For the most part, I would want to give them my final result, which means flattening the layers. And if a client did his own photoshop work, then I might be persuaded to let them have the original, unedited version of a picture. For the most part, I think giving them something in between is just asking for trouble.
Comments
Black point and white point are not photoshop terms. The black point is also called the shadow: its the darkest neutral part of the picture which should still hold some detail. The white point is sometimes called the highlight: it is the lightest neutral point in the picture that should hold some detail. This is true whether you are doing B&W darkroom development, or whether you are making adjustments in photoshop.
When you slide the left hand slider in levels to the right, you are moving the black point to a higher level. This will have the effect of plugging the shadows -- making more of the picture black. Conversely, when you move the right hand slider to the left, you are moving the white point to a lower level. And this has the effect of blowing the highlights.
Lets say you have a picture where the darkest point you want to see has a tonal level of 35 and the lightest point has a tonal level of 230 (out of 256). If you move the black point to 35 and the white point to 230, you have now set 35 = 0 and 230 = 255. This stretches out the tonal range accross the entire picture which increases the contrast.
There are other ways to set the black and white points (most commonly with curves), but you were already doing it when you played with levels.
LAB is a color space. There are typically three kinds of color spaces that people use: RGB (red green blue, which comes in different flavors depending on the gamut that is being represented), CMYK (which is even more complicated and is commonly used for printing presses), and LAB. LAB is different than the others because it keeps all the contrast information in the one channel (the L channel), and then distributes all the color information into the A (red/green) and B (yellow/blue) channels.
By converting a picture to the LAB color space, you can quickly make adjustments to the contrast and the color of the picture, and you can do this by making very simple moves that a trained monkey could do. This approach is what you would learn from the first 5 chapters of the Margulis Canyon Conundrum book. It would allow you to do good fixes to most pictures in about 1-2 minutes.
If you then turned those steps into an action (which is Photoshopese for a macro), you could reduce the time to half a minute or less. Then, if you learned how to do batch processing, you could probably do a dry run of all your pictures without having to watch anything, You could then go in and spend a bit more time on the ones you thought needed/deserved a different treatment.
Duffy
1) Open the image.
2) Make sure the layers tab is visible. It is in the bottom right by default but it may be hidden behind the channels or paths tab.
3) At the bottom right of the layers tab you'll see an icon that looks like a circle that is half black and half white. Hover over it and it will say "add a new fill or adjustment layer." Click on it and a menu will pop up; in that menu click on "Curves..."
4) You will now see a new layer was added and a Curves dialog box popped up. First things first, click on the icon at the bottom right of the curves dialog box to make it bigger and then option/alt click somewhere on the dotted grid to make it have smaller divisions. Now double click on the black eyedropper and a color picker dialog will pop up. Input 10, 10, 10 in the R, G, and B boxes and click OK. Double click the white eyedropper (the far right one in the curves dialog box) and in the color picker box put in 240, 240, 240 for the R, G, and B input boxes and then click okay.
5) Now in the curves dialog box you've got a line with 2 end points. Take the top right endpoint and drag it along the top edge all the way over to the left until you only have a few pixels left in your image. Those will be the darkest pixels. Click on the black eyedropper and then click on one of the pixels that should be failrly uniformly black (I found one in his belt). That will make the curve go back to normal and will set the black point.
6) Now do the same for the white point. Drag the bottom left endpoint of the RGB curve to the right until there are only a few pixels left on the screen and then click on the white eyedropper and then click on one of the pixels to set the white point (don't choose a specular highlight if the image has one). In this image I chose the bottom of the guy's left sleeve.
7) Click okay in the curves dialog box and the 1st time you do you'll get a message asking if you'd like to set the colors you defined in step 4 as the default. Just click yes.
8) You can see what setting the white point did by clicking on the eyeball icon to the left of the Curves 1 Layer and then clicking it back on. It may be a subtle adjustment, but it's a good adjustment to have done to your images.
Once you've digested this, I'll show you how you can always find the exact middle gray point.
http://photos.mikelanestudios.com/
There are just too many ways to skin this cat, and I know you're getting overloaded with them, but I am going to show you the easiest. It won't be the best, mebbe, but it'll get you through those hundreds of photos quickly. It's all based on the pop tutorial that Andy linked in your other thread, it's also in my signature. Make sure you look at both pop tutorials.
So, on your first shot here, I set a black point on his belt(see the tute), and then applied these curves to RGB. I basically moved the white point up (my curves is reversed from many, so pay attention to the fact that I've got shadows on the right--if you don't, you'll need to do the mirror image of it.) After moving the white point up, I control-clicked on skin to set a point in the curve, then dragged that point up to make it lighter. Very quick and easy. Here's the curves:
and here's the result:
Yes, you could spend more time on it and get better results, but from what I've read about what you want to get done, this is the way to go.
Here's the other shot.
Here I set the black point in the shadows of the girl's hair, and then applied these curves. Nothing more, nothing less.
I hope this helps. It really is the fastest way to get you going through all those images. It should help at least 95% of them. For the other 5%, you can ask for more help.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
www.SaraPiazza.com - Edgartown News - Trad Diary - Facebook
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You're not adding a layer, but an adjustment layer. It's a layer with nothing there but the adjustment that you're making. Make sure you're clicking in the right place and that you're getting that menu, and from that menu you're selecting "Curves".
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
Go here for a lesson on adjudtment layers.
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
I found it. It's up above, under Layer>new>adjustment layer, and the drop down menu gives me the curves option.
will try this. stay tuned.
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Yeah, it's in both places.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
Thank you, Sid. Will check this out. I'm making some progress on the setting the black point, I'm very excited. One thing I can't figure out is how to get rid of the Sampler Marker. The tutorial says, 'alt-click' but it doesn't seem to be working.
Thanks for all the help, and especially your patience, everyone. I'll get this, I promise.
www.SaraPiazza.com - Edgartown News - Trad Diary - Facebook
It depends on the eyedropper mode, try throwing a shift in there, as well. Truth be told, the marker doesn't really hurt anything, so it's not much to worry about.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
yup, that worked. Okay, so I'm getting it. Here's my version. A layer for curves, to brighten, a second adjustment layer where I added a little saturation.
www.SaraPiazza.com - Edgartown News - Trad Diary - Facebook
this is a great tutorial, I have bookmarked it.
www.SaraPiazza.com - Edgartown News - Trad Diary - Facebook
www.SaraPiazza.com - Edgartown News - Trad Diary - Facebook
Duffy
That is basically what I decided.
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